Relationship between respondents' attitudes towards euthanasia and an end-of-life pill and the underlying demographic and study characteristics (N=3615 observations)*
| Imaginable to ever request euthanasia,† OR‡ | Imaginable to ever want a pill to end your own life, † OR‡ | |
| Age category: | ||
| ≥85 | 1 | 1 |
| 75–84 | 1.23 (0.91 to 1.66) | 1.03 (0.65 to 1.63) |
| 64–74 | 1.71 (1.25 to 2.34) | 0.87 (0.56 to 1.37) |
| Study period: | ||
| 2001–2003 | 1 | |
| 2005–2006 | 1.17 (1.00 to 1.37) | NA§ |
| 2008–2009 | 1.44 (1.22 to 1.69) | |
| Age category × time period: | ||
| ≥85 | NA§ | |
| 2001–2003 | 1 | |
| 2005–2006 | 1.07 (0.63 to 1.82) | |
| 2008–2009 | 1.01 (0.59 to 1.74) | |
| 75–84 | ||
| 2001–2003 | 1 | |
| 2005–2006 | 0.90 (0.67 to 1.21) | |
| 2008–2009 | 1.06 (0.78 to 1.45) | |
| 64–74 | ||
| 2001–2003 | 1 | |
| 2005–2006 | 0.94 (0.75 to 1.19) | |
| 2008–2009 | 1.73 (1.36 to 2.21) | |
| Gender: | ||
| Male | 1 | 1 |
| Female | 0.89 (0.72 to 1.10) | 0.95 (0.76 to 1.19) |
| Marital status: | ||
| Married, registered partner | 1 | 1 |
| Widowed | 0.88 (0.69 to 1.11) | 1.06 (0.82 to 1.37) |
| Divorced | 1.61 (1.00 to 2.58) | 1.50 (0.96 to 2.34) |
| Never married | 0.76 (0.47 to 1.23) | 0.79 (0.45 to 1.39) |
| Education:¶ | ||
| Primary education or less | 1 | 1 |
| Secondary education | 1.47 (1.17 to 1.85) | 1.30 (1.01 to 1.66) |
| Tertiary education | 2.13 (1.51 to 3.02) | 2.49 (1.78 to 3.46) |
| Religion: | ||
| None | 1 | 1 |
| Dutch reformed/protestant | 0.15 (0.11 to 0.19) | 0.15 (0.11 to 0.20) |
| Catholic | 0.28 (0.22 to 0.36) | 0.24 (0.19 to 0.31) |
| Other | 0.28 (0.17 to 0.46) | 0.48 (0.30 to 0.77) |
| Number of seven assessed major chronic diseases:** | ||
| None | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 0.90 (0.72 to 1.14) | 0.77 (0.60 to 0.97) |
| 2 | 0.89 (0.69 to 1.15) | 0.80 (0.61 to 1.05) |
| >2 | 0.86 (0.63 to 1.18) | 0.74 (0.54 to 1.03) |
| Depression: | ||
| Not depressed (CES-D <16) | 1 | 1 |
| Depressed (CES-D ≥16) | 1.43 (1.09 to 1.87) | 1.40 (1.07 to 1.82) |
| Cognitive impairment: | ||
| No cognitive impairment (MMSE ≥24) | 1 | 1 |
| Cognitive impairment (MMSE <24) | 0.79 (0.60 to 1.03) | 0.98 (0.74 to 1.31) |
↵* In this dataset; 217 observations are not included in the analyses because of missing values.
↵† See table 2 for a full description of the questions as presented to the respondents.
↵‡ Multivariable regression analysis using generalised estimating equations: the likelihood of giving an affirmative answer to the euthanasia and end-of-life pill scenario in different categories.
↵§ NA, not applicable. Because the interaction between respondents' age and the time period was significant for the end-of-life pill scenario, we present separate ORs for the end-of-life pill scenario by showing which time period significantly interacted with one of the age categories. This was not applicable for euthanasia because there was no interaction between time period and age category.
↵¶ Primary education includes: elementary not completed and elementary education. Secondary education includes: lower vocational education, general intermediate vocational education and general secondary education. Tertiary education includes: higher vocational education, college education and university education.
↵** The seven most frequently occurring chronic diseases include: chronic non-specific lung disease, cardiac disease, peripheral arterial disease, diabetes mellitus, cerebrovascular accident or stroke, osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.